乐道上市之后，蔚来品牌会坚持高端定位，持续提升盈利能力成为主要关注点。蔚来品牌今年第四季度的整车毛利率可以提升到15%。2025年，蔚来品牌的整车毛利率将以15%为基础，逐步提升到20%。Li Bin: The goal is for the company to achieve profit by 2026
On November 20, Li Bin, founder of NIO, said in a financial conference call for the third quarter of 2024: “As sales double next year, overall operations will continue to grow positively. Losses are expected to narrow next year, and the goal is to achieve profit in 2026.”
This year, NIO released its second brand, Ledao, and delivery of the first model, the L60, began on September 28. Li Bin said that the company will accelerate the production process throughout the supply chain. The production capacity is expected to exceed 0.01 million units in December, and the production capacity will reach 0.02 million units in March next year. Furthermore, NIO's third brand is officially named “Firefly” and will be released on December 21 on NIO Day 2024, and delivery of the first model will begin in the first half of 2025. Firefly targets the high-end car market, and its position in NIO is equivalent to BMW's MINI. It will further enrich the company's product portfolio and efficiently contribute to sales through existing sales channels.
After Ledao is listed, the NIO brand will adhere to its high-end positioning, and continuous improvement of profitability will become the main focus. The NIO brand's gross vehicle margin for the fourth quarter of this year could increase to 15%. In 2025, the gross vehicle margin of the NIO brand will gradually increase to 20% based on 15%.
According to financial data, NIO's sales in the third quarter reached a record high of 61,855 units; revenue was 18.67 billion yuan, up 7.0% month-on-month; gross margin of the vehicle continued to rise to 13.1%, maintaining the leading level of the industry; R&D investment was 3.32 billion yuan, with a cumulative R&D investment of more than 53 billion yuan since 2016. Thanks to positive free cash flow, NIO's cash reserves increased to 42.2 billion yuan by the end of the third quarter.
NIO also released the strongest quarterly guidance in history: delivery guidance for the fourth quarter was 0.072 million units to 0.075 million units, up 43.9% to 49.9% year on year; revenue guidance for the fourth quarter was 19.68 billion yuan to 20.38 billion yuan, up 15.0% to 19.2% year over year. Both guidelines reached record highs.
